Colorado: Disappointing?
Written: Dec 03 '03 (Updated Jul 07 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Some nice scenery, decent prices
Cons: Grand Junction, busy
The Bottom Line: Colorado beats out its neighboring states overall, but I don't really care to return.
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| tch7's Full Review: Colorado |
In June/July 2002 I went with my parents on a three-week road trip through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and parts of Utah and South Dakota. Of that, Colorado was the biggest letdown of the trip, as it just was far less spectacular than what I had expected - but it still beat the majority of Wyoming and Utah for scenery. Granted, everywhere was plagued by drought, and wildfires were abundant, so that didn’t help the experience. The Colorado portion began by heading from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Denver, where we then turned west and stayed at Vail for a few days. After our stop at Vail, we drove to Moab, Utah for one night and then drove back towards Denver, but near Vail turned north towards Steamboat Springs and Rocky Mountain National Park. After staying in Estes Park for a few nights, we then ended our stay in Colorado by driving to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Links to the other portions of the road trip will be added over time to the bottom of this review, as well as more detailed information regarding the Vail area and Rocky Mountain National Park.
I was looking for Rocky Mountains, but other than Rocky Mountain National Park, they were just very large tree-covered hills with drab mountain towns here and there. I was thinking they would be like the Canadian Rocky Mountains, just at a higher elevation, but they weren’t. Mountains they were, but seeing them chopped up by ski resorts really didn’t seem like a big loss. Rocky Mountain National Park had the type of scenery I was looking for, but the sheer number of people really detracted from the nature aspect I had been seeking.
I merely drove through Fort Collins and Denver, so exactly what they are like I couldn't tell you. Denver is known to be almost identical to Calgary (where I live), just Calgary is about 10 years behind in growth, in which case Denver should be about a 4/5 overall. The road system was good; getting in and out of Denver was easy enough on the freeway system, but we went through before the evening rush hour struck. With all the smoke in the air from the forest fires, the skyline wasn't exactly attractive looking with all the pollution. Fort Collins looked very much like a typical suburb from what I did see, but I was catching up on sleep as we went by it.
Once you head west from Denver, the road does remain in good shape, but the traffic patterns and the unrelenting hills made it an unnerving drive. What I mean by traffic patterns was that for 3 miles all the traffic would be going 100mph and then all of a sudden it would go down to 30mph for 3 miles, and it did that all the way until Avon. The hills are also quite bad until you reach Avon, as they just go on for a fairly long time. One day when it was about 30*C out, every 100 meters there was a broken down car on the side of the road - I've never seen anything like it. Luckily, we were in a 2003 Ford Expedition that we got about a week before departing on our trip and it had no problems. Other than the towns of Vail and Breckenridge, none of the towns west of Denver appealed to me (see my review on Vail for more details on this area).
Once you get past Vail, the scenery just keeps getting uglier and uglier. Glenwood Canyon (not the town, the actual canyon) is about the only scenic area between Vail and the border, and it's not like scenery improves once you are in Utah. In Glenwood Canyon, there is a short (but rather steep) hike up to Hanging Lake, which is a very nice looking lake. It took us about half an hour to get up to the lake, half an hour to take pictures, and another half-hour to go back down. The trail was very busy, but it didn't really take away from it too much. Everybody just went to the lake, but for all of a five minute walk past it you can basically go in complete solitude to the "Spouting Rock" which is a rockwall with a waterfall coming right out the middle of it - very neat. A ways after the canyon you come to Grand Junction, where dirt-bike tracks in the barren hills were an improvement to the scenery. Words cannot describe how ugly Grand Junction was - the town itself wasn't too bad, it's just the environment around it that is brutal. When we were returning from Moab the next day, there was a big accident, so they rerouted traffic to go off the highway, and after that you were on your own; we spent about 30 minutes just trying to get back onto the highway along with thousands of other motorists.
Now, after going back through Avon and all that, we headed north to take the back door into Rocky Mountain National Park. As a result of taking that route, we ended up on the Ridge Road, which takes you up to the top of the mountain for no real reason, when it could just contour around the mountain. It was neat, but very busy and plagued with huge RV's that could barely move. We went for a walk at the very top and saw some mountain goats, but that was nothing new for me and instead I focused my attention on the family from Massachusetts that couldn't read the numerous signs that said, "stay on the trail." Although I'm no environmental freak (or so I hope), it just bothers me when people are walking all over the incredibly sensitive plants that have enough trouble surviving the elements as is. I wanted to pound that mother right in the face, but then she'd have an excuse for her stupidity. Anyways, after staying in Estes Park (a town that borders Rocky Mountain National Park) for a few nights we then left and headed for South Dakota - it was also my birthday. More on Rocky Mountain Nat. Park will be in another review.
My lodging was mainly a tent, except for around Vail where we were staying for just under a week. We stayed at the pink Holiday Inn at Frisco, which was somewhere around $80 a night (we had a slight deal though). Come to think of it, I never even saw a campground in and around the Vail area, but I’m sure there must be one somewhere. Staying in a tent was not a fun experience during the entire trip. Not that I'm trying to bash Americans, but every campground I went to had very noisy people that stayed up until 1 AM partying and got up at 5 AM and started banging pots around. Plus, people would just walk straight through our site whether we were present or not. I don't think I've ever been so sleep deprived and angry at peoples lack of respect before or since. If I'm paying $20 - $30 a night, I expect to get some sleep. What ever happened to quiet time?
Yes, Colorado was better than most of the other states I visited, but I was expecting so much more out of it. It's a place I'm glad I went to, but I really have no desire to go back unless it's winter and I can go skiing. If interested in how the rest of the road trip was, click on the links below.
For reviews on the rest of the road trip, here are links:
Montana
Wyoming
Yellowstone National Park
Grand Teton National Park
Colorado
The Vail Area
Rocky Mountain National Park
Arches National Park
Jewel Cave National Monument (South Dakota)
Recommended:
Yes
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tch7
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